Desert orchids

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Our image of Iran is often of a people in thrall to religious extremists, but one photographer’s visit reveals another picture, of the average Iranian gripped by a very British passion – the thrill of a day at the races

The day before photographer Jude Edginton left Iran, 15 British Marines were abducted, causing a huge diplomatic row. But what he managed to capture in the two weeks he spent there was an Iran very different from the baying mobs and angry Mullahs of the news reports. In fact, the first conversation he had with an Iranian when he landed in Tehran was with a taxi driver who said, “I must apologise for my government. Living here is like living in a Europe that has been run by the Vatican for the past 300 years.”